Zilliqa, the Singapore-based enterprise-grade blockchain platform, has announced its 2021-2022 cohort of ZILHive Accelerator projects. The ZILHive Accelerator is a six-month program focused on launching blockchain-enabled projects from concept to commercialization.
The accelerator program is part of ZILHive’s end-to-end ecosystem designed to foster innovative blockchain applications throughout various stages of maturity. Startups in the accelerator will be able to apply for additional funding under ZILHive Grants, aimed at supporting specific pre-launch needs such as regulatory compliance or technical integration with third-party apps.
Han Wen Chua, Vice President of Ecosystem Growth at Zilliqa, commented: “The tremendous progress the startups have made in turning their ideas into real-world use cases for blockchain is a validation of our efforts at growing Singapore’s role in the global fintech ecosystem.”
Incubation Projects
Six of the eight startups accepted into the Accelerator this year were advanced from an earlier Incubator program which began in March.
The inaugural 14-week ZILHive Incubator matched technical and non-technical participants into teams that could design and build unique solutions on the Zilliqa blockchain protocol.
The eight startups accepted into the Accelerator include:
- Access, a startup that looks to combat ticketing fraud and prevent ticket scalping by issuing tickets as non-fungible tokens;
- Cerchia, a startup building blockchain-based tools to help catastrophe bond issuers, re-insurers, and investors better predict and price the risks of natural hazards through crowdsourcing;
- Green Beanz, a project that aims to incentivize consumer-facing companies and NGOs to improve the transparency and accuracy of their corporate social responsibility and sustainable development goals reporting;
- HeyAlfie, a smart dashboard for users to manage, invest and borrow digital assets through a single interface, by connecting multiple types of wallets (custodial, non-custodial, and even exchange accounts);
- Invopay, an invoice financing platform designed to help small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) better manage their cash flow with low-interest loans secured on the blockchain;
- MustPool, a gamified no-loss prize protocol, where the deposited principle remains safe and the prizes come from the interest earnings, leveraging different staking and lending dApps on Zilliqa;
- Tyron SSI Protocol, a self-sovereign identity protocol that enables users to manage access to their data securely, while allowing them to provide verified credentials selectively without relying on middlemen or centralized databases;
- Ultimate Franchise Fantasy Sports, a fantasy sports platform offering digital asset ownership to sports fans through the use of NFTs to represent athletes in the various sports leagues.
Startups accepted into the Accelerator feature founders from diverse backgrounds – from enterprising college students to seasoned industry professionals.
“The diversity of the participants graduating from the incubator and into the accelerator program highlight the importance of having a comprehensive suite of programs, each tailored to the different stages of an innovator’s journey,” noted Chua.
Access founder Mihir Mohan said, “From the design sprints with the ZILHive team to the valuable advice I’ve gained from experienced professionals during the Incubator program, ZILHive’s programs have helped me turn my ideas into a viable product.” Mohan first joined ZILHive through its student practicum and later started Access during the incubator program.
Projects such as Cerchia, on the other hand, were founded by seasoned industry professionals.
Led by a founding team of quants and risk managers from the likes of financial institutions such as UBS and GIC, Cerchia’s chief technical officer Fabian Buchmann said, “The ZILHive Incubator was a great opportunity to enlarge our network and increase the team’s expertise significantly with their complementary skill sets. The development of a minimum viable product during the incubator has prepared us to launch the product on the Zilliqa protocol during the upcoming accelerator program.”
ZILHive has also appealed to traditional businesses looking to generate new revenue models by implementing emerging technologies into their existing tech stack. Judobi is looking to launch Invopay, its new invoice financing platform, via the ZILHive Accelerator.
Julien Doherty-Bigara, CEO of Judobi, said: “The ZILHive Incubator has opened up a new chapter in my entrepreneurial journey by partnering my team with great co-founders to solve a real problem using blockchain. The incubator itself helped us to conceptualize and validate our idea and we’re now looking forward to powering the growth of Invopay with the ZILHive Accelerator program.”
The ZILHive Accelerator program will culminate in a worldwide Demo Day in December 2021, where outstanding projects stand the chance to receive up to USD $150,000 in growth capital from ZILHive Ventures, Zilliqa’s internal venture fund.
